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The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism,particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s,uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973,but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.
Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in County Antrim in Northern Ireland,on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Council merged with Antrim Borough Council in April 2015 under local government reform in Northern Ireland to form Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
The Ulster Political Research Group is an advisory body connected to the Ulster Defence Association (UDA),providing advice to them on political matters. The group was permanently founded in January 2002,and is largely a successor to the Ulster Democratic Party.
Frank McCoubrey is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist,as well as a community activist and researcher. McCoubrey is a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA since 1997,sitting as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member since 2012. He is a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG). McCoubrey is a native of Highfield,Belfast.
The Combined Loyalist Military Command is an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s,recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee.
Rathcoole is a housing estate in Newtownabbey,County Antrim,Northern Ireland. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition of inner city housing in Belfast city. Rathcoole is within the wider Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough. Its approximate borders are provided by O'Neill Road on the north,Doagh Road on the east,Shore Road on the south and Church Road and Merville Garden Village on the west.
Ulster Resistance (UR),or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM),is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
The Shoukri brothers are a pair of Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries. Andre Khalef Shoukri was born in 1977,the son of a Coptic Christian Egyptian father and a Northern Irish mother. He was alleged to have taken over the north Belfast Ulster Defence Association (UDA) leadership. In July 2003 he received a two-year prison sentence for unlawful possession of a gun and received a nine-year sentence for various crimes in 2007. Ihab Shoukri,who was the older brother by three years,died in 2008.
John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. In 1984,Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. From the 1990s until he was shot dead in 2003 by rival associates,Gregg served as brigadier of the UDA's South East Antrim Brigade. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation,Gregg was considered a "hawk" in some loyalist circles.
Mark Langhammer is a Northern Irish trade unionist,employed as Director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and elected onto the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 2008,being re-elected in 2010. A former politician in Northern Ireland,he was previously a prominent northern-based member of the Irish Labour Party.
The UDA South East Antrim Brigade was previously one of the six brigades of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and are heavily involved in the drug trade. It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east County Antrim,Northern Ireland. A mural in support of the group lists its areas of activity as being Rathcoole,Rathfern,Monkstown,Glengormley and Whitewell,all of which are part of Newtownabbey,as well as Carrickfergus,the Shore Road,Greenisland,Ballymena,Whitehead,Antrim and Larne. A newer mural in the Cloughfern area of Newtownabbey and flags have updated the areas to include Ballycarry,Ballyclare,the rural hinterland of Ballymena called 'Braidside' and despite not being in County Antrim,the town of Newtownards. The Guardian has identified it as "one of the most dangerous factions". The Irish News described the brigade as 'powerful' and at one time being 'the most bloody and murderous gang operating within the paramilitary organisation'. Since 2007 the South East Antrim Brigade has operated independently of the UDA following a fall-out.
Alex Kerr was a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. Kerr was a brigadier in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)'s South Belfast Brigade. He is no longer active in loyalism.
Joe English is a former Ulster loyalist activist. English was a leading figure in both the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and was instrumental in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. He is a native of the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey,Northern Ireland. English is a member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry.
James "Jimbo" Simpson,also known as the Bacardi Brigadier,was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. He was most noted for his time as Brigadier of the North Belfast Ulster Defence Association (UDA). After falling from grace,Simpson spent a number of years outside Northern Ireland. He returned to Belfast in 2014 in a move related to an ongoing loyalist feud.
William McFarland,also known as "the Mexican",is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. He was a leading figure in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA),he had served as head of the North Antrim and Londonderry East Tyrone Brigade of the group.
William Elliot was a former Northern Irish loyalist who served as brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) East Belfast Brigade in the 1980s.
The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the A2 road,a traffic route which links Belfast to the County Antrim coast.
The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry,passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road,a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge,Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others.
Thomas English,usually known as Tommy English,was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary and politician. He served as a commander in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and was killed by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as part of a violent loyalist feud between the two organisations. English had also been noted as a leading figure in the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) during the early years of the Northern Ireland peace process.
Matthew Kincaid is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader and activist. Kincaid is the head of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
References
- ↑ 1989 Newtownabbey results
- 1 2 3 4 Newtownabbey Borough Council Elections 1993–2011
- ↑ 1995 Macedon by-election Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Northern Ireland elections
- ↑ H. McDonald & J. Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 366
- ↑ Loyalist paramilitary flags explosion
- ↑ DUP backs Kirkham on council The Newsletter
- ↑ Councillors accuse DUP of 'abusing power'
- ↑ Roy Garland, Empey move exposes DUP hypocrisy, Irish News
- ↑ The changing face of the UDA?
- ↑ Ahern's loyalist meeting 'amicable'
- ↑ Initiative aimed at racism
- ↑ D. Lister & H. Jordan, Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company, Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2004, p. 325
- ↑ Ian S. Wood, Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, p. 306
- ↑ Loyalist group want £8m plus
- ↑ £1m is confirmed for UDA project
- ↑ Familiar faces waiting to greet Shoukri in Maghaberry prison
- ↑ UDA expels south east Antrim brigade chiefs
- ↑ Expelled Kirkham vows to go nowhere
- ↑ Branch spy at heart of rebel UDA
- ↑ Beyond Conflict
- ↑ Loyalist councillor reluctantly testifies at 1973 sectarian murder trial Belfast Telegraph